Question about primary debates.

Have primary debates always been moderated by partisans? Everyone has biases, of course, and some will argue that supposed non-partisans sympathize with one political party more than another. But my memory of primary debates is very foggy, and I'm only 37, so I'm wondering if some of you might recall when primary debates started being moderated by obvious partisans. Maybe it's always been that way.

It's bad enough that candidates lie and don't get called out for doing so. Must moderators set the stage for falsehoods with questions based on false premises?